Baseball game

ABSTRACT

A baseball game is provided with a gameboard having vertical walls perpendicular thereto to indicate an outfield wall. The infield and outfield positions are provided with net-like devices to catch and retain a hit ball. A net-like catching device is provided which has a fixed strike zone and retains a pitched ball within the catching device which has passed through the fixed strike zone. A batter is provided which has a lower stationary portion and an upper rotating portion attached to the lower stationary portion so that a bat is rotated through an arcuate swing wherein the bat is parallel to the gameboard at least during a portion of the total arcuate swing. A pitching device is provided which enables the operator to control the direction, trajectory and speed of the pitched ball.

Unlted States Patent 1191 1111 3,834,703 Dlouhy Sept. 19, E974 [54] BASEBALL GAME 3,705,723 12/1972 Eissler 273/89 [76] Inventor: Gerald Ernest Dlouhy, 567 Smith Neck Rd., South Dartmouth, Mass. Prim? Examiner-Anton oechsle 02748 Assistant Examiner-Harry G. Strappello Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Cushman, Darby and [22] Filed: Mar. 27, 1973 Cushman [21] Appl. No.: 345,466

[57] STRACT 52 US. Cl. 273/89, 124/4 A baseball game is Provided with a gameboard having 51 Int. Cl A63f 7/10, A63f 7/06 vertical Walls Perpendicular thereto to indicate an we 5 Field f Search 273 3 9 90 372 37 4; field wall. The infield and outfield positions are pro- 124 4 7 6 vided with net-like devices to catch and retain a hit ball. A net-like catching device is provided which has 5 References Cited a fixed strike zone and retains a pitched ball within the UNITED STATES PATENTS catching device which has passed through the fixed strike zone. A batter is provided which has a lower :23 stationary portion and an upper rotating portion at- 1 651 686 12/1927 Fennessy:I:::::::::::::::::.. 273/89 tached to the lower stationary Portion that a bat is 1:990:109 2/1935 Brenner 273/89 rotated through an arcuate swing wherein the bat is 2,015,284 9/1935 Phelan 273/89 Parallel to the gameboard at least during a Portion of 2,161,129 6/1939 Brook 273/89 the total arcuate g- A p ng ce s p o ided 2,412,714 12/1946 Caesar 273/90 which enables the operator to control the direction, 2,802,667 8/1957 Bertley 273/89 trajectory and speed of the pitched ball. 2,859,969 11/1958 Modico, Jr 273/89 3,050,307 8/1962 Glass et al. 273/129 x 3 Clams, 3 Drawmg Flglll'es PATENIE SEP] 01914 SHEET 1 0f 2 BASEBALL GAME BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to an indoor baseball game which can be played by two or more players. Such games are well known as exemplified by the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 370,628, 561,916, 959,427, 1,053,568, 1,651,686, 1,682,170, 1,896,684, 2,008,052.

Many of these baseball games do not simulate the actual game in that the baseball travels along the surface of the gameboard rather than in the normal trajectory above the gameboard. Although gameboards are known which involve the pitching and hitting of a ball in a trajectory above the gameboard, these prior art games are generally mechanically complicated and very expensive. Additionally, prior art baseball games generally have a minimum of control over the pitching and batting device and require power rather than skill to operate. Furthermore, these games often involve mere chance rather than the skill and control of an operator.

It is therefore an object of this invention to overcome these problems and provide a baseball game which closely simulates the actual game.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION These objects are accomplished by providing a baseball game comprising a gameboard which supports pitching, batting, catching, and infielder and outfielder devices. The pitching device comprises a positioning control rod and a release rod which act together to allow the operator to control the direction, trajectory and speed of the pitched ball. A batting device is pro vided with a planer or non-planer arcuate swing which is activated by a spring. Additionally, a catching device is provided which has a fixed strike zone and retains a pitched ball which has passed through this fixed stroke zone. The outfielder and infielder devices comprise wire and net-like structures which retain a ball hit into them.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a top view of the gameboard of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the infielder devices;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the outfielder devices;

FIG. FIG.

4 is a side view of the catching device; 5 is a front view of the catching device of FIG.

6 is a side view of the pitching device; 7 is a side view of the batting device; and 8 is a top view of the batting device.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT secured along with the remaining walls 19 to form an enclosure about the gameboard 110. Not shown in FIG. 11 is a supporting bottom surface underneath the game board 10 to provide sufficie'nt strength for the complete apparatus. Additionally, flags may be positioned on the outfield walls 18 at the termination of the left and right field lines to indicate the fair ball zone. The infielder device 20 shown in FIG. 2 is positioned at the rear of the rectangular depression 11 in the gameboard 10. This depression 11 is angled or sloped at the front entrance of the depression in order to insure that any ball which is hit into the infielder device 20 will remain in the device. This infielder device 20 is a hockey or soccer-like goal structure made of a wire 21 and netting 22 which covers both the sides and back of the device.

Three outfielder devices, such as shown in FIG. 3, are placed in three positions 14 as indicated on the gameboard of FIG. 1. These outfielder devices are made from a wire-like structure 24 which has a netting 25 attached. Together the wire 24 and netting 25 form a semicircular or cup-like structure which is capable of retaining a ball hit into the net, thus indicating an out.

A catching device, such as that shown in FIG. 4, is indicated by circle 26 in the gameboard of FIG. I. The catching device shown in FIG. 4 is constructed of two sides 27 which are separated and held vertical to the gameboard by cross members 281 and 29. Attached to the top of cross member 28 is transverse member 30. In order for the bat of the batting device shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 to be pulled back to a ready position, the bat must pass through the same horizontal plane occupied by transverse member 30. To eliminate the transverse member 30 from obstructing the swing of the bat, transverse member 30 has a cut-out portion in the corner nearest the batter. This omitted portion may be in any suitable shape such as the circular cut-out shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. Attached to the back of cross member 28 is netting 31 which hangs down and touches the gameboard 10. The purpose of the catching device is to establish a strike zone by identifying a strike which is retained in the catching device through a strike zone indicated by numerals l, 2, 3 and 4 in FIG. 5. In order for the pitched ball to enter the catching device, it must pass through an opening illustrated by the dotted line, X Y, FIG. 4. In this manner, the ball must come within the hitting range of the batter in order to pass through the strike zone and be retained by the catching device.

The pitching device shown in FIG. 6 is positioned in the circle 34 shown in the gameboard in FIG. 1. The pitching device shown in FIG. 6 comprises a body 35 in the form of a man which is secured to a free moving base 37 by two screws 36. The free moving base 37 is in the form of hemisphere which allows rotation of the body 35 in a forward, backward, or sideward direction and is free from attachment to the gameboard 10 in order to allow positioning by the operator. A pitching arm or rod 38 is connected by a ball 39 to the bolt pitching body 35, separated by a washer 40. The pitching arm 38 is a straight or slightly curved rod which is pivoted about bolt 39 which acts as a fulcrum. The pitching arm is longerfrom bolt 39 to the top of the arm, indicated as 41, than from the bolt 39 to the bottom of the arm indicated as point 42 by a ratio greater than 2:1 and preferably approximately 3:1. When at rest, arm 38 leans against peg 43. At the top of the arm 38 is a hollow in which the ball 44 is placed. Attached to the lower portion of the arm by screw 45 is the release rod 46. Release rod 46 passes through the centerfield wall 18 at opening 47. The release rod 46 is connected to an angled pressure rod 50 by screw 51. The angled pressure rod 50 is connected by a bolt 53 to the yoke holder 52 which is in turn secured to the centerfield wall 18. Attached to body 35 on the opposite side from the release rod 46 is the positioning rod 59. Positioning rod 59 is attached to the pitching body 35 at a fixed angle and extends a sufficient distance beyond the outfield wall 18 to enable the operator to position the pitching device. An obstacle 56 is placed in front of the free moving base 37 in order to prevent the pitcher from getting too close to the batter.

By holding the positioning rod 59, the operator may accomplish the following procedures:

I. stabilize the pitching body 35;

2. control the desired trajectory of the ball by lowering the positioning rod 59 in order to tilt upwards the free moving base 37, thus resulting in a pitch having a high are. By lifting the positioning rod 59 upwards the back of the free moving base 37 is raised and the resulting pitch will have a relatively flat arc.

3. control the direction of a pitch by moving the positioning rod 59 slightly to the right or to the left thus enabling the ball to be thrown to the inside or outside area of the strike zone.

4. release the ball towards the batter by exerting a force with a finger of the other hand at point 55 on angled pressure rod 50 which rotates in a clockwise movement in order to trigger the release of the ball 44. The lower section of rod 50 is forced backwards as indicated by the arrow A which in turn forces the release rod 46 in the same direction. The lower section of the pitching arm 38 is also forced in the direction of A because of its attachment at point 45 to release rod 46. The backwards motion of the pitching arm causes the pitching arm 38 to rotate in a vertical plane about the bolt 39. In this manner the upper portion of the pitching arm 38 moves in the direction of the arrow B, towards the batter, until the arm 38 hits peg 54 whereupon the ball is catapulted out of the hollow at the tip 41 of the arm 38.

The batting device shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 is positioned at point 13 on the gameboard 10 shown in FIG. 1. The bottom of the batter is made of a base 60 which is inserted into a slot 61 in the baseball gameboard l and suitably secured thereto. The lower base 60 is constructed at an angle such that its top surface is in a plane which intersects the gameboard at a suitable angle, such as 45, so that a bat attached to the upper part of the body 62 results in an arcuate swing wherein the bat is parallel to the gameboard 10 during only a portion of the swing. The top portion of the batter 62 is attached to the lower portion 60 by a screw 63 and separated therefrom by washer 64. A bat 65 is attached to the upper body 62 so that during the middle portion of the swing or are the bat is generally parallel to the horizontal gameboard 10. It is noted that if the lower portion 60 of the batter were not angled, the resulting batter would have a perfectly horizontal swing parallel to the gameboard 10. However, to closely simulate the actual swing of a batter it is preferred to employ the angled lower portion 60. In this manner the axis of the upper portion 62 corresponds to the upper angled portion of the lower body 60, as represented approximately by the screw 63. Similarly, the bat forms an angle with the screw 63 of approximately 120. The batting device is activated by the player placing his finger on the bat 65 and pulling the bat back from the rest position to the release position 71, as seen from the top view in FIG. 8. At this position the spring 68, which is attached to the wall 19 at point 69 and the upper portion 62 at point 67, has been pulled taut so that release of the bat will result in an arcuate swing of the bat back to the rest position 70 and into the final position 73 due to the contraction of the spring 68. In this manner the player may keep the bat in the ready position 71 and properly time the release of the bat to hit the pitched ball as it passes through the strike zone.

Because of the construction of the batter and pitcher and the placement and construction of the infielder and outfielder devices, the baseball game closely simulates the actual game. Thus when the batter hits the ball, hits are determined in the following manner:

1. homerun the ball is hit on the fly over the outfield walls in fair territory;

2. triple the ball was hit and comes to rest inside the depression 12;

3. double the ball is hit on a fly off the outfield walls;

4. single any ball hit in fair territory which is not a homerun, a triple or a double.

This close simulation of the actual game is accomplished by allowing the operator of the pitcher as complete control of the pitch as is mechanically possible. Thus the positioning rod allows the operator to control the direction of the pitch in regard to the inside or outside positions in the strike zone. In a similar fashion, rotation of the free moving bases 37 by positioning rod 59 allows the operator to control the trajectory of the pitched ball. The speed of the ball is controlled by the amount and speed of pressure applied at point 55 to the angled pressure rod 50. The batter is also constructed to closely simulate the arcuate swing of an actual human batter. The power for the swing is provided by spring 68 and therefore the ability to hit the pitched ball depends on the skill of the operator rather than the power of the operator thereby equalizing all opponents.

The catching device accurately determines the strike zone by retaining therein any pitched ball passing through the strike zone 1, 2, 3 and 4. The infielder and outfielder devices in conjunction with the gameboard and outfield walls together with the batter, catcher and pitcher provide a very close simulation to the actual game not achieved in prior art games. This close simulation therefore involves the skill of the operators of the batter and pitcher and not mere chance or power.

What is claimed is:

1. A baseball game comprising a gameboard having a pitcher and a batter, said pitcher comprising a body attached to a free moving base in the form of a hemisphere to allow rotation of said body in a plurality of directions, a ball projector pivotally connected to said body with a longer section capable of supporting a ball, a release rod pivotally attached to a shorter section of the ball projector for releasing a ball at a desired speed, said release rod also being pivotally connected to an angled pressure rod which is pivotally mounted adjacent to said gameboard so that release of a ball is achieved by application of pressure on said pivotally mounted angled pressure rod, a positioning rod attached to the body for controlling the direction and trajectory of a ball, said batter comprising a lower stationary section secured to said gameboard and an upper revolving section to which a bat is attached, said upper revolving section being disposed at an angle with respect to said gameboard, wherein'a spring means urges said bat and said revolving section to a rest position after said bat has been pulled back from said rest position, an arcuate swing of said bat in a horizontal posi tion to said gameboard during only a portion of the total arcuate swing being defined during rotation of said revolving section and said attached bat.

2. A baseball game according to claim 1 which further includes a catching device comprising a fixed which is capable of retaining a ball hit into said netting. i= a: 

1. A baseball game comprising a gameboard having a pitcher and a batter, said pitcher comprising a body attached to a free moving base in the form of a hemisphere to allow rotation of said body in a plurality of directions, a ball projector pivotally connected to said body with a longer section capable of supporting a ball, a release rod pivotally attached to a shorter section of the ball projector for releasing a ball at a desired speed, said release rod also being pivotally connected to an angled pressure rod which is pivotally mounted adjacent to said gameboard so that release of a ball is achieved by application of pressure on said pivotally mounted angled pressure rod, a positioning rod attached to the body for controlling the direction and trajectory of a ball, said batter comprising a lower stationary section secured to said gameboard and an upper revolving section to which a bat is attached, said upper revolving section being disposed at an angle with respect to said gameboard, wherein a spring means urges said bat and said revolving section to a rest position after said bat has been pulled back from said rest position, an arcuate swing of said bat in a horizontal position to said gameboard during only a portion of the total arcuate swing being defined during rotation of said revolving section and said attached bat.
 2. A baseball game according to claim 1 which further includes a catching device comprising a fixed strike zone and netting means for retaining a ball passing through the fixed strike zone.
 3. A baseball game according to claim 1 wherEin the gameboard contains an outline of a diamond dividing the gameboard into an infield and outfield portion, said infield portion having at least one rectangular depression in the gameboard and an infielder device comprising a wire structure supporting a raised net above the depression and said outfield portion having at least one cup-like outfielder device having a netting which faces in an upwardly direction from the gameboard and which is capable of retaining a ball hit into said netting. 